I am so lucky to be part of the Poetry Friday community – poets and poetry lovers from all around the world who post poetry goodness especially on Fridays. I am especially lucky that there are not rules in this community about the regularity of  postings. Every week since my return from Hanoi I  promised myself  this would be the week I finally posted something. But life has been busy – a wedding (my son’s), a new baby (different son), Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, swimming training. And that’s just the personal stuff. Professionally, I have been busy teaching online, and preparing for a return to oncampus teaching in February, as well as preparing for a new book baby out February 1, running picturebook workshops, and trying to work on the things I drafted in Hanoi.  Phew.

This week, however, I have been espousing the wonders of poetry to my students (future teachers), so it seemed to be the week that I HAD to make the extra effort to get on here and post for Poetry Friday.  Then Friday rolled around and I still hadn’t written anything new and really didn’t know what I would post. Lucky for me, when I went out to water my plants this morning, I found the very inspiration I needed. There, nestled in the branches of my jade plant, was a wasp nest. I grabbed my camera, and took some snaps, and almost instantly had an idea – based on the very reason the jade bush is on my front verandah.  It’s supposed to be lucky!

So, here you have it – a little bit rough , because it’s hot off the press – my first Poetry Friday poem for 2019.

And, because the orange font is a little hard to read, here is the text version:

 

A Lucky Home

Ancient wisdom says

If you plant jade bushes

at your front door

and your back door

good luck will come your way.

But if you are a wasp

and you fix your home

right in the midst

of jadey treasure

all your doors

and all your windows

even your attic

and basement

have lucky views.

And if that jade bush

is on my front porch

you are doubly in luck

as I will let you stay.

(Poem and Image Copyright Sally Murphy 2019)

Now, lucky for me, I get to go and see what my fellow Poetry Fridayers have been up to. You can too, by starting at the round up on Tricia’s Blog, The Miss Rumphius Effect. Trica’s post is a lovely tribute to Mary Oliver, who will be sadly missed by poetry lovers everywhere.